On Wednesday, former president donald trump participated in a question and answer session at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Annual Convention and Career Fair in Chicago. During the speech, he continued to make racist comments and mispronounce the name of his Democratic opponent on a very controversial panel.
Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; Harris Faulkner, Fox News anchor; and Kadia Goba, political reporter at Semafor, moderated the discussion.
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Trump received a lukewarm reception, with scattered applause and audible boos from attendees. The event, scheduled for noon, started almost 15 minutes late.
Scott opened the discussion by asking Trump about his controversial and false statements, such as Obama and Harris not being born in the US, among others: “Why should black voters trust you after using language like that?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible way,” Trump responded. “First question, you don’t even say ‘hello’, ‘how are you?’”
Trump then asked Scott, “Are you at ABC? Because I think they are a fake news network.”
The next question addressed recent comments from conservatives and Republicans who labeled Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and Asian American woman to serve in that role, a “DEI contractor.”
“I’ve known her for a long time, indirectly, not directly, a lot, and always of Indian heritage, and she was just promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she became black, and now she wants to be known as a black Indian. Or is she black?
Throughout the panel, Trump continued to berate Scott multiple times, criticizing the “bad equipment” and being unable to hear the moderators sitting just feet away from him.
Trump received questions about his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance’s comments about “childless women,” in which he responded with a familiar but incorrect argument about Democrats having abortions after the birth of a baby.
The GOP nominee, who was found guilty of 34 criminal charges, was asked about his proposed immunity for police officers. The moderator linked this to the recent murder of Sonya Massey, who was unarmed when she was shot by a police officer in her home. Trump responded: “I don’t know the exact case, but I saw something.”
He drew audible gasps from the audience when he spoke about wanting to “stop people from invading our country” who are “taking jobs for black people.”
Ahead of the conversation, NABJ partnered with PolitiFact to provide real-time fact-checking during the discussion.
This decision sparked criticism and backlash from NABJ members and leadership, leading to the co-chair’s resignation amid controversy over Trump’s participation in the conference.
Harris Campaign social accounts responded quickly to many of Trump’s comments, particularly when Scott told Trump that she was repeating her previous statements.
Vice President Harris is in Houston for three fundraising and campaign events before leaving Thursday to deliver a eulogy for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson, who died earlier this month.
In a video released on X, Ken Lemon, president of NABJ, responded to the criticism: “It is absolutely not an endorsement. The first thing you read when we released this release said this is not an endorsement. Every year, in every presidential election cycle, we invite presidential candidates to come. We extend this to anyone nominated.”
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